July 2016 On SYWTT Blogging & Technology by Joel Wagner - August 1, 20160 July 2016 was a great month as I continue getting back into the blogging groove of things. Below are some highlights. I discovered Pinterest and began to see that many of the articles on my site don't look so great on there. As a result, I began making images to go along with my new articles. Additionally, I have begun going back through the archives to create images for some of the more popular older articles. As time progresses, I will get to more and more of them. Along with that, I continue going back and adjusting formatting of old articles, as web standards have changed quite a bit since 2007. I have also started work on curating some of the articles by creating resource
Curiosity May Kill Cats, But Conformity Kills Creativity General by Joel Wagner - July 9, 2016July 10, 20160 In the recent blog post 10 Habits of People Who Always Have Great Ideas, Ideapod author Lachlan Brown highlights 10 characteristics of creative people. I encourage you to go read the article. As I was reading through the list, I was struck by two thoughts: "Hey, those are all habits I cultivate in my life!" and "Wow, wouldn't it be great to have students like that in my class?" This article explores how I nurture creativity in my life as well as in my students.. How do I cultivate these habits in my life? Daydreaming I am constantly considering new ideas and looking for new sources of inspiration. Sources of inspiration include listening to a podcast (my current favorites are Revisionist History and DCI's Fieldpass), reading a book (I'm
Finding A Teaching Job General by Joel Wagner - July 6, 2016July 10, 20160 Do you ever feel alone in your quest to become a teacher? Well, the truth is that finding a teaching job can be lonely, but it is not a unique experience. Over the next few weeks, I will be curating Resource Posts that will serve as a springboard for digging deeper into specific topics that have been covered on this blog. Since we are at the beginning of July and many teachers are searching for their first job or for greener pastures, the first stop is a collection of resources on finding a teaching job. General Tips Help: Should I Become A Teacher? Help A New Student Teacher Out With Resources 10 Things I Wish Someone Had Explained Before My First Teaching Job Five Ways
5 Reasons I Loved Teaching Middle School General by Joel Wagner - February 9, 2014July 3, 20161 This past summer was a whirlwind tour for me and someday I may share a bit about the amazing experiences I had traveling by myself across the country (including three nights stranded in airports, a fourth of July parade in a small town outside of Boston, following my beloved Texas Rangers to Saint Louis, New York, and Baltimore, a ride to the airport from Shelly Terrell, and an amazing time in some of this country's finest cities). But now is not the time for this. Now is the time to address the biggest change in my educational life. After 11 years of fighting in the trenches, I have finally moved on to the major leagues. I moved on from my previous
10 Years of Teaching: How Do I Keep My School Administration Happy? General by Joel Wagner - June 12, 2012July 1, 20160 Five years ago, I wrote a series of seven articles called “Questions That Will Save Your Career†that still remain among the most visited articles on this site. When I wrote those, I had successfully completed my 5th year in education. This summer, after 10 years, I am revisiting some of these older concepts. Today, I revisit How Do I Keep My School Administration Happy? How Do I Keep My Students Quiet? How Do I Keep My Students Engaged? How Do I Keep My Students Interested? How Do I Keep My Students Learning? How Do I Keep My Students Away From Me? How Do I Keep My School Administration Happy? How Do I Keep My Sanity? 10 Years of Teaching:
10 Lessons I Have learned In 10 Years of Teaching Inspiration by Joel Wagner - June 6, 2012July 25, 20165 At the conclusion of 10 years of teaching, I started to reminisce about what I have learned. This article summarizes 10 lessons I have learned in 10 years of teaching. After having successfully completed my tenth year as a professional educator, I have come to realize that a lot of what I used to think worked didn't really work...at least not long-term. While some things may be effective in the immediate future, they are not sustainable down the road, and sometimes even backfire if used to often and too early. 1. Love your job and your students No matter how hard you try to pretend you love your job, if you don't, the kids will see right through you. Students feed off of the energy that
The Years Are Building Blocks: Part Five New Teachers by Drew - June 11, 2010June 30, 20100 This is a guest post by Drew, who currently teaches 7th Grade Texas History in the San Antonio area, where he has taught since 2004. Maybe this job doesn't pay enough for those with heavy material needs. But, working here has helped me with the most important part of my life. 10. Family – My comfort level with my material for class has improved each and every year. I spent Friday nights, usually until the wee Saturday morning hours, setting up lesson plans for the next week. I was never able to get ahead on my work. I had two preps and no lesson plans from other teachers to guide me. By November
10 Things A First Year Teacher Should Do New Teachers by Joel Wagner - September 13, 2009June 30, 201010 Do you hate your job? I just finished my third week of school and am excited about how much fun my job will be this year. It's super exciting. I remember back when I was a first year teacher, though. It wasn't quite like this. This was underscored this week when a couple of anonymous readers (disgruntled and hey) left the following comments: It's interesting reading all these comments and I was searching the internet for other jobs I could do if I wasn't a teacher.. My story is the opposite. I have a great bunch of students and a really supportive (mostly) group of parents also. I am disgruntled by the workload and also extra things that end up taking
Just What Is A Good School Inspiration by Tom Anselm - June 28, 2009June 30, 20104 This is a guest post by Tom Anselm. His book, You're Never Too Old For Space Camp is available in Ebook or Paperback formats from Booklocker.com. "My kids go to a good school" What parent doesn't want to be able to say this about the bricks and mortar location where they entrust their offspring for 7 hours a day, 180 days a year, again and again. And for that matter, what teacher worth his or her salt doesn't want to be able to say with some conviction, "Yeah, I work in a good school." This word "good" when used in the context of quality holds so much meaning. It brings us to the question of this article. "What is
MusicEdMajor.Net Music Education by Joel Wagner - June 15, 2009June 30, 20100 Andy Zweibel (whom I've been following on Twitter for a while now -- @Zweibz7) just started up a blog specifically focusing on topics concerning Music Education students. The blog is MusicEdMajor.net. Andy is currently seeking contributors for the site, and I think this is definitely a worthwhile endeavor. Hopefully we can get in touch with some music education professors and those who have influence in the music education world to try to get more people on board. I know a handful of musicians and music teachers are subscribed to my blog and I hope they will give Andy some encouragement, links, and just send people his way. I also would like to add that he has chosen a very nice,
Find A Mentor – Again (Total Teacher Transformation Day 6) Inspiration by Joel Wagner - May 8, 2009June 30, 20102 This is an article in the Total Teacher Transformation series. Click here for a complete table of contents. I hope that this series so far has been useful for some of you. I'm not getting an overwhelming amount of feedback specifically on the series, but I guess I really can't complain about over 40 (non-spam) comments in the last week, even if they were not entirely devoted to the Total Teacher Transformation series. I find that it's always nice to get feedback when you are trying to do something important. In thinking about this, I am actually reminded of the early days of my Total Teacher Transformation back 5 years ago. I didn't have anyone there saying, "You're doing a great job"
When Is It Time To Relocate? Personal by Joel Wagner - March 20, 2009June 30, 201018 On the one hand, I love my job. I absolutely love the kids I work with and am on pretty good terms with the rest of the band staff. On the other hand, my life is pretty boring. I have never been a crazy partier or anything (I don't drink alcohol or much caffeine for that matter). I don't go out to clubs and can't stand the bar environment. But in a relatively small town (less than 50,000 people) that is over an hour from the next closest reasonably sized town, life can get to feeling pretty isolated. A question I have for those of you out there who have been in this type of situation: When did you feel
Heartbreaking Story Inspiration by Joel Wagner - January 31, 2009June 30, 201011 A reader wrote in with the following story. I don't even know how to begin to respond to it, but I'll add some thoughts at the end. Hopefully this reader's experience will serve some of you somehow in the future. When I interviewed at my school, it appeared to be everything I wanted in a job. I interviewed for one prep. I addressed my classroom procedures, consequences I employed, rewards I employed, my teaching style, asked about administrative involvement... and basically heard everything I wanted to hear. I fortunately came to that school with very kind references and evaluations. What I found on my first day were five preps across three grade levels. When I questioned it, I was told
Get Ready For Reader Appreciation Month 2008 Reader Appreciation by Joel Wagner - October 28, 2008July 1, 20101 Thanksgiving is a holiday for remembering what we have and giving thanks to our God for His blessings. I like to spend the months of November and December reaching out and giving. I practice giving as a regular habit throughout much of my life, but I specifically focus in these two months on giving back to my blogging community. Last year I highlighted a number of readers with Reader Appreciation Month. At the end, I did some great summaries: 50 Classroom Management Tips I Have Learned This Month 47 Blogs That My Readers Are Reading Top 5 Character Traits Of Great Teachers 50 Reasons To Love Your Job As A Teacher I recently created a list of 10
Pacing: What Every Great Band Director Knows Classroom Management by Joel Wagner - September 25, 2008May 29, 20167 One of the greatest challenges that I had as a first year teacher was with classroom management. I've mentioned that a number of times before and I think most first year teachers go through that. As with most, I noticed that I had some days where the kids were good, and others where they were bad. It was just so unpredictible. But why? What made those days so unpredictible? I honestly think it was a combination of things. But the most important factor in the behavior of the kids had to do with how much dead time they had. How much time they were unoccupied and had to find something to do to keep themselves occupied. How do you keep them occupied? The academic term